Fall Preview: DV girls swim returning balance, depth

There's a balance on Desert Vista's girls swim and dive team. Across the board, coach Shawn O'Connell says.

"We have strong girls at the top, we have girls in the middle, we have depth at all the strokes," O'Connell said. "And now we've got a few more divers instead of just one."

DV finished tied for third at last year's Class 5A-I state meet.

Returning are junior Tinsley Andrews - third in the 100-yard freestyle and fourth in the 200 free at the 5A-I meet - and sophomore Katie Olsen, who swam at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials and was second in the 100 backstroke and third in the 200 individual medley at state.

To replace graduated distance swimmer Nina Ogesen, who finished ninth in the 500 free at state, O'Connell said he expects sophomore Sarah Shober, coming off an impressive summer, to move right in. Junior Taylor Newgaard will also move from sprints to distance.

"She has goals of reaching the finals in both those events, which she is capable of doing," O'Connell said.

The Thunder also add three divers to its pool. Senior Danica Meloski was the lone diver on last year's squad, finishing 17th at state.

"It's a lot more to work with," said DV dive coach Patrick Sulivan. "Some of them are new and have not really done anything, but a lot of the other ones have had some type of diving experience."

Among the newcomers are freshmen Elise Cole and Lauren Hopper, whose brother, Matt is a senior on the boys dive team.

"It's definitely going to boost us up a lot, especially at the relays and the big meets where you have accumulative team points," Sulivan said. "And Danica held up and did real well, but we actually have people that can stack up, so it's going to make a big difference."